


A New Family

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 05:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20270956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "So I’m a fan of the ‘Family’ fics, and there are so many wonderful fills that I’m hoping someone will take this one too. (I’m also a fan of young Jack, ie. in his early teens instead of late teens)Set post movie.Jack sort of assumes that now he’s a guardian he and the others will end up spending more time with each other (he’d always sort of assumed they did stuff together all the time), only to find that except for the odd meeting throughout the year they are too busy doing their own thing, leaving Jack as alone as ever.Jack doesn’t want to be alone anymore so he starts to pester the other guardians, hanging round them, helping them out, forcing himself into their lives until they make room for him. The other guardians eventually realise what he is doing (maybe they too were beginning to feel the loss of the closeness they were feeling during the whole Pitch thing).I would love add some sort of angst thing...[cut for length]"Jack’s frustrated with the amount of effort that he puts into trying to get the Guardians to be a family, since they keep drifting apart, and he talks to Tooth about it. Tooth discovers one of the things that might be holding them back.





	A New Family

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 9/10/2016.

“I just feel like I’ve had to do this a dozen times already,” Jack said. He sat slumped on a large cushion within Tooth’s personal rooms at the Tooth Palace, his hands covering his face. “And I don’t want to sound whiny about it, because that certainly won’t make anyone want to be a family. But I’m just…tired. Am I really the only one that wants this? I think everything’s wonderful when we start spending more time together, but if I’m the only one that thinks that, then…I don’t know. Is it because of my center? Am I supposed to find company only with the kids? I love them, but it’s not the same.”  
  
Tooth sighed. “You’re not the only one who wants us to be a family, Jack. When you just became a Guardian, you helped me remember that I really loved children, and when you found reasons for all of us Guardians to spend more time around each other, I realized I had missed them, too. I don’t know why we keep drifting apart. Maybe it’s because we had so much time to get used to being apart.”  
  
Jack removed his hands from his face. “I understand that,” he said, “but why am I the only one that ever works to bring us back together again?”  
  
“I think you just recognize being alone as a negative thing before the rest of us,” Tooth said. “Actually,” she went on, sitting up straighter, “perhaps there is a reason. I don’t think you’ve ever described to any of us exactly what you mean by wanting us all to be a family. I’ve seen a lot of memories and I’ve seen a lot of families. Can you tell me what _you_ mean about wanting the Guardians to be a family?”  
  
Jack tilted his head. “You know, I’ve never actually put it into words, even in my own head. I think…ever since I was able to see my memories, I’ve been overwhelmed by…by a longing for a family like the one I had. Maybe that seems ridiculous. After all, I’ve had three hundred years of memories where I didn’t know that I was missing anything like that, why should thirteen or fourteen of something else make such a big difference? But it does.”  
  
Tooth put her hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me this,” she said. “I think…this really helps me understand what’s been going on.” She sighed. “I can help you with your memories, you know? To understand them, and to let yourself feel them. But I don’t know if I, or North, or Bunny, or Sandy, can help you by being the kind of family that you want us to be. We can’t be the second version of the family you saw in your memories. I mean, just based on some of our times together…I can’t be your mom, Jack. North can’t be your dad. Bunny can’t be your brother and you’re not a teenaged child. We can’t relate to you in that way, Jack, because that’s not who we are.”  
  
Jack gave a short, humorless laugh. “Well, I guess it all does sound pretty ridiculous when you put it that way. So, I guess I should just stop all this, right?”  
  
Tooth shook her head. “Now that we’ve talked, I think there’s a better chance of us becoming a family than ever. If you…if you can accept that it’s going to be a different kind of family than the one you had. I think we can all be close. I think we can be happy. But we all have to be able to be ourselves. We can’t have the same relationships as your human family.”  
  
Jack folded his arms even as he nodded. “That all makes sense, I just…I didn’t even realize what I was doing. And how will I stop myself the next time we’re all together? And I’m still…I’m still tired. I still want to be cared for, sometimes.”  
  
“But we don’t need to be your parents to do that,” Tooth said. “All right?” She leaned in a gave him a hug.  
  
He sighed and leaned back against her. “Yeah. Yes. All right. I guess I’m ready to try again.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> #there were SO MANY unfilled prompts on this theme #Jack's first paragraph frustration is also mine
> 
> emeraldembers reblogged this from gretchensinister and added:  
Oh, gosh, this hurt my heart. Oh, Jack. *hugs him as tight as I can*(and thank you Tooth for a proper, grown-up answer and not just pretending everything is going to be alright straight away. This sort of thing takes work! I’m just hoping that with Jack’s confession, he won’t be left feeling like the only person doing any of that work.)


End file.
